PlayStation 3 Super Slim teardown

Sony's newest PlayStation console caught our eye with its totally redesigned body—so we just had to tear one open to see what lurks inside!

At just 4.6 pounds, the Super Slim shed some serious weight compared to its immediate predecessor, the 7.1 pound PlayStation Slim, and is less than half the weight of the original 11-pound PS3. At 20% smaller in size than the Slim, this is probably as slim as slim will be for the PS3.

The Super Slim's totally redesigned interior manages to sustain its slimmer figure without any serious sacrifices to repairability or component accessibility. Because of this, we assigned the PlayStation 3 Super Slim a repairability score of 7 out of 10.

Compared to the PS3 Slim, the rear port layout is shifted ever so slightly, answering a question we get a lot about motherboard compatibility: sadly, you cannot swap Slim and Super Slim motherboards.

Perhaps the biggest change in the new model—and biggest gripe from consumers—is the departure from an automatic slot-loading disc tray to a manual top-loader. We suspect that ditching the tray was necessary to cut both costs and size in the Super Slim.

Perhaps the coolest thing about the PlayStation's hard drive is that Sony allows you to upgrade your console with any 2.5" laptop hard drive. No fancy firmware, no wacky enclosures—just you, your console, and as much storage as you can cram in there.

The Super Slim consumes less power as well. While the PS3 Slim was rated at 12V and 18A DC, the Super Slim is rated at 12V and 13A DC.

We read some conflicting reports about the noise level from the PS3 Super Slim's disc drive and so we looked for anything that might reduce the noise. We found the drive is mounted on super-soft rubber bumpers and surrounded by a noise-reducing plastic tray, which should dampen vibrations; however, this won't do much to muffle sounds coming straight off the drive through the thin, plastic tray door.

In a similar fashion to the PS3 Slim, the Super Slim's power supply is designed for inputs ranging from 100V to 240V AC, making it usable across the globe.

We were a bit miffed to find that the entire motherboard assembly must be removed to access the fan or heatsinks, but it does make for a very compact and solid design.